Local digital media place Exeter UK on planet

Exeter may be a suitable spot to look at new forms of local media. I have been wondering what the minimum scale is for a viable city. The Leuphana MOOC seemed to me to be building up the benefits of large scale and not looking much at web aspects. But maybe with a priority for online resources the physical scope could be quite small.​

I notice that the Guardian witness software is also n0tice and as mentioned in previous space I managed to add something. Any high street, any window to look out of. More on this later. I also found that Local World will experiment with Exeter ​( and Cambridge and Derby) as case studies in transformation.

http://www.local-world.co.uk/pdf/Local%20World%20announces%203%20fast%20track%20centres%20SA%20EW.pdf

Steve Auckland, Local World Group CEO said:

“This is the first stage of reequipping our businesses to be really fit for the future. The three sites named today will help develop ideas and provide valuable insights before we roll this out to all our existing sites. It’s an exciting challenge to balance our well run sites with a more digitally focused future while maintaining our integrity and unbeatable local skills. ”

Meanwhile the Exeter Daily has been set up with involvement of Marc Astley, previously editor of the Express and Echo. The software is available on a franchise basis and there is positive reference to citizen journalism.​

http://www.thedailyuk.co.uk/daily-team/

​I think there is enough going on to relate to web discussions and what is happening locally. My own videos are mostly local with some trade show from London and other parts of the UK. Location matters but links can move around. The RGB loop between the Apple Store, castle, Phoenix and cathedral is still a good set for a chat show. If photography is a problem in Apple or Princesshay terms then somewhere else can be edited in. Time travel continues. I am still mostly interested in the IPEX event for printing and what is now a conversation around all forms of communication.

Not so long ago the Guardian spent about £500m on kit from Man Roland.​

Guardian Witness, some more clues

I have tried to submit a couple of bits of text. Nothing moderated so far. Suggested topic around the return of Jeff Jarvis. Also a note on the Kodak Zi8 as an example of technology. Everything Everywhere may be the dynamic in this situation. They ask the question what is technology allowing you to do? My answer reports accurately that I use the card in the Zi8 to upload from a desktop, sometimes days later. But I am looking at phone cameras and mobile upload speeds here in Exeter. This may be too complex a report, not sure yet.​

It turns out that the software is also available from http://n0tice.com/ so something similar will happen whatever the Guardian manages to do. I still have not seen anything in print except the ads, I guess they are paid for by Everything Everywhere. Editor Brand Dissonance continues. On the one hand the Guardian is innovating global digital brand extensions. On the other hand the print version continues as if the customers are happy to read the proper print journalists as usual.​

The internet is a bit like a soap opera, in that the dialogue often seems phoney. As a human, you know this. You know a lot of that squabbling and babbling just doesn't ring true. No species that angry could have survived the invention of fists. Online, even a whimsical chit-chat about the cutest part of a kitten can rapidly descend into a bitterly entrenched civil war that tears families apart, with brother turning on brother while their mother looks on, weeping. Resolving Palestine looks like a piece of piss by comparison.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/28/every-conversation-meaningless-beeps-charlie-brooker

Will the comment in print have anything positive to say about the web in general or Guardian Witness in particuilar?​

It may be too early to tell but we can make a guess

I am definitely out of time and place

The Media Market Place has convinced me that Cross Media is a functioning set of ideas.  The BPIF is very clear and also there seem to be several other groups involved in Leeds. Electronics and 3D printing. Meanwhile news about IPEX continues. There will still be a sharper focus at ExCEL next year but I think the technology and how people respond to it now relates to a spread in time over a few years. I guess the Leeds event will carry on next year, just to relate a bit to actual space. Not everyone will travel from Yorkshire to the Thames.

Citizen Journalism and the Guardian also covers a few years. I will try to stay calm while looking back on previous posts and relating them to what turns up. One problem seems to be that as the resource for weekdays declines there is less reporting on Education and Media, so the weekend book culture just starts again as if the last half decade or so never happened. I wonder if they would reconsider if printed Monday to Friday was cancelled.​

Jeff Jarvis returns to Guardian guest list

I just tried to start a topic on Guardian witness but not sure where it went. I don't seem to have a record of what I wrote. ​

i am trying to test it out and there is a lot of background, maybe a good chance to restate some of the archive. The Witness project may turn out to be a useful development but I find the print version continues as mostly negative about the Web. Previously I mentioned the attack on Jeff Jarvis in the Saturday Review

http://hellospiders.com/blog/2013/4/2/guardian-has-let-go-of-jeff-jarvis-and-weekday-progress

Now I notice he is a speaker at an Activate conference in a couple of months. I wonder if the tone will change.​

​I think this is coming from Everything Everywhere, sponsors of the App. Previously the Guardian scrapped Guardian Unlimited Talk so a mass of content was wrecked. No notice, no chance to back anything up. I will need some reassurance that nothing similar will happen again. Also some explanation would still be helpful. Why did it happen and who knew about it?

There is an interview with Joanna Geary on a blog from Adam Tinworth

Jo is clear that she and the team are aware of previous failures in this space - that's why they've so consciously steered away from tainted terms like "user-generated content" and "citizen journalism".

Well, why is "citizen journalism" tainted? I used to contribute to OhmyNews and I found their case very convincing. As far as I know it continues in Korea. The problem was that OhmyNews was only reported in the Technology section on a Thursday. All we got on a Monday was some not very funny fantasy, supposed to appeal to proper print journalists I imagine.​

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/apr/27/set-my-daughter-computer-curfew

Follow this link for what I find is not unusual on the printed Guardian pages. Will Jeff Jarvis ever again get a similar amount of space?​

My guess is that The Media and Education print pages will have very little about web disruption, certainly not much positive, unless there is a special section with a sponsor.​

EE may find other ways to get these ideas across. The UK is soon heading where Korea was a while ago.​

Media Market Place, Leeds scaffolding for Cross Media

Through Cross Media magazine I now realise that Leeds is the location this week for an event that looks like defining what Cross Media and IPEX 2014 are about. I missed the first one but Media Market Place 2 is supported very strongly by the BPIF so has a solid base in the classic printing industry. Kathy Woodward writes that "traditional media and digital are already working hand in glove, and they will continue to do so."​

I hope to find more over the next couple of days. The event is on Friday. #mediamarketplace2 on Twitter finds that there will be 3D printing. It turns out that @ReplicatorWH is based in the Elephant and Castle though the website covers the UK. There is mysterious technology such that you can walk down a path next to a roundabout near Old Street and only twenty minutes later appear on a roundabout path near the Elephant and Castle. So although the route to ExCEL is mostly through East London it may not matter much exactly where it is. We need some scaffolding to help learn what Cross Media is about. Study of Media Marketplace is a start.

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